Mar. 22, 2012

In this image released by Lionsgate, Jennifer Lawrence portrays Katniss Everdeen in a scene from "The Hunger Games." / AP/Murray Close

Written by

Jane Prendergast

Hot movie heroine with a bow and arrow, and everybody wants to do archery.

You’ve seen the previews of the movie The Hunger Games, which opens Friday – the beautiful star wields elaborate bows to make the sport empowering and sexy.

Local archers and bow hunters knew the interest in their sport would spike.

“What we see is every time a movie like this comes out, kids want to shoot with a bow and arrow,” said Randy Williams, hunting and archery manager at Target World in Sharonville who has been competing in archery and bow hunting since he was 10.

“You should’ve seen it when Lord of the Rings came out. Everybody wanted a bow that looked like the elves’ bow.”

Archery was the big winner in a Cincinnati survey about what the city should do with the former golf course at the Dunham Recreational Complex in West Price Hill - of 325 people who answered, about 200 requested archery, said Chris Bigham, recreation director.

“I never knew how big all of this was,” he said. “But it’s huge. It’s just exploded.”

Sales of archery equipment have increased more than 20% in the last year, according to figures provided by the Archery Trade Association. Some of the boost started when the Hunger Games trilogy of books started, in 2008.

Bigham’s department is working on building an archery course on part of the former golf course. Officials are talking with places like Dick’s sporting goods which have expressed interest in helping sponsor it, he said. The city also got a grant of about $8,000 from the National Recreation and Park Association to train a staffer in archery instruction and help build the program.

The city first would have to change the Cincinnati Municipal Code’s chapter on “Dangerous Weapons and Fireworks” to allow recreational bow hunting on city-owned property - and only and during programs authorized by the recreation department.

Williams, a die-hard fan of the sport, appreciates the increased interest but finds it a little bit humorous.

“There are people who go out every weekend and do this,” he said. “We call it hillbilly golf.”

He doesn’t expect it to last.

“Movies do give it a spurt,” he said. “But once the kids realize it’s not as easy as the movies make it look, they usually drop out.”

Hamilton’s Darrell Pace won Olympic gold in the sport in 1976 (Montreal) and 1984 (Los Angeles), won two World Championships and was named World Archery Federation’s “Athlete of the Century” last year.

As the director of Cincinnati Junior Olympians archery, where he coaches ages 9 and up at Hamilton’s Joyce Park, he’s seen the sport’s rise in popularity firsthand.

“Our club, in the last eight years or so, [participation] has tripled, easily,” he said.

And it’s not just The Hunger Games that’s sparking the interest: “Every Olympic year it goes up, because kids see it on TV, and the archery in the schools programs [are growing],” he said.

Pace sees Cincinnati’s efforts to develop archery as a positive step.

“Archery’s one of the safest sports,” he said. “If it’s done right, as long as you know your surroundings, it’s safe. In schools, it’s at the bottom of the list for injuries.”